PDC: Court’s campaign finance decision won’t affect state races

Wednesday’s major U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding political donations will almost certainly not affect races governed by Washington state law, according to a spokeswoman for the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC).

The 5-4 ruling struck down a federal cap of the total amount an individual can contribute to political candidates, parties and committees in an election cycle, according to the Associated Press. It left intact limits on how much a donor can give to each candidate or group.

So donors will be able to contribute more overall than the old cap of $123,200 per election cycle, but they’ll still be limited to $2,600 for each federal candidate per election.

In addition, the decision is likely to affect eight states with overall caps — Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Wyoming, according to the Washington Post. But Washington state doesn’t have any cap on how much overall each donor can give to candidates or political groups involved state races, such as for governor or the Legislature.

“We don’t have anything like that,” said Lori Anderson, a PDC spokeswoman.

Washington state’s individual limits will stay in place — $1,900 per election (primary and general) for statewide candidates, $950 for legislative candidates.

Anderson said the commission with check with the state Attorney General’s Office to be sure.

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Politics Northwest is the go-to blog for politics in our region. The blog explores national, state and local political news and issues. Reporters from Washington, D.C., to Seattle City Hall to the state capital in Olympia contribute. Editors are Richard Wagoner and Beth Kaiman.